Heart Rate Monitor

Norkie

Norkie

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Hi guys,

I would like a heart rate monitor to use on my bicycle. I used to have a Pulsar chest strap with a handle bar display mount, excellent.

They are a bit too expensive for me now so I’m looking for an alternative, any suggestions please?
 
I've got a Huawei Band 4, cheap and it works. I don't think it will give you real time heart rate if that's what you are after but it will track cycling and give you a heart rate chart after exercise.
 
Thank you Chris, ideally I’d like real time monitoring ;)
 
The heart rate part is reletively cheap its the display of realtime info that will be expensive. Do you use some sort of computer for riding already? The Wahoo heartrate monitor is good but i have the head unit that costs £250 odd quid. Will work with your phone running an app if you have that bar mounted. Otherwise a watch with heartrate but they are likely to be more then a monitor strap and an exisitng computer/phone. Check out DCrainmaker for impartial reviews
 
Wahoo Tickr connected to your phone, and use Strava or similar.
 
Second hand Apple watch - from about series 2 forwards. It does a lot more than just measure your heart rate if you happen to have an iPhone.
 
Any Fitbit does real heart rate, can be gotten pretty cheap for a last gen model.
 
I have a cheap rip off fit-bit strap [Mi band 4, about £22 Amazon] that checks my HR every 30 mins [bit of set up inc d/l apps involved but it's not too tricky] , measures steps all the usual like check your sleep pattern in tandem with various free apps - my partner bought herself a higher end watch and I got her off shoot - I wasn't fussed about it to start but it's become kind of addictive checking the stats :D
 
have you got garmin?
 
I use my apple watch when I’m walking, cycling or jogging, and for you as a cyclist it’d probably be useful.

I’ve got a few pics now that I didn’t have when I posted earlier - the live display on your watch looks like this (screen shot from watch) - it is set to show heart rate, duration, distance, speed and calorie burn, but there are other metrics you can also display. (The minimum number of metrics is two if you only wanted heart rate - you’d have to include one more as well)

1B06AF28-5D48-4E43-B4B4-36A91865F105.png

These are the available metrics:

B2F65C11-AD22-426C-AE46-034689C89D56.png

It then links back to your phone post workout to show your heart rate over the ride duration and the usual metrics of distance, speed, calories etc. There’s also a zoom-able map that allows you to see your fast and slow sections.

5ACCD8B2-C769-46D4-85D4-07A7DBAE7078.png

The watch also records your daily progress of general moving around and exercise - to which you can set your own target and close your three rings. One for movement (red) one for exercise (green) and one for ensuring you stand up for at least a minute in every hour.

7BCA8E9D-7F27-402A-8414-2F53D09ADD31.png

So if you have an iPhone - have a good look at a used Apple Watch (however ensure that any watch purchased is deregistered from its previous iTunes account - without this happening it’s no more than a brick - the reasoning - to reduce thefts - and it works - not many people steal apple watches as they can’t be reset without the iTunes password) and after all that you’ll tell me you have an android phone :cool:
 
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If you want a cheap way of doing it then pretty much any Garmin watch fastened to the handlebar and paired to a cheap Ant+ chest strap will get you high accuracy at a low price. If you want to spend a bit more then a Garmin Edge will do all of that and add on SatNav, popularity routing and call help if you fall off :) About 220 new.

Measuring heart rate at your wrist is great for every day use. But if you want accurate measurement while exercising then a chest strap will always be better.
 
JonathanRyan said:
If you want a cheap way of doing it then pretty much any Garmin watch fastened to the handlebar and paired to a cheap Ant+ chest strap will get you high accuracy at a low price. If you want to spend a bit more then a Garmin Edge will do all of that and add on SatNav, popularity routing and call help if you fall off :) About 220 new.

Measuring heart rate at your wrist is great for every day use. But if you want accurate measurement while exercising then a chest strap will always be better.
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Couldn't agree more, my Fenix watch is fine for hiking and such but on the bike it's useless for monitoring heart rate accurately it will often completely miss sprint sections, just takes too long to update.

Definitely need a chest strap.
 
If its of interest I have the following which I don't use any more my watch does all I require now

Polar H10 Monitor and Strap , it all works but the chest strap is a bit worn .
2*Duracell CR 2025 Replacement batteries.5
One full and one about half full tubes ( 250ml ) of conductive gel .
If this is of interest I will work out a price and put it in the classifieds

It works with Polar Beats on your phone

Chris
 
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troutfisher said:
If its of interest I have the following which I don't use any more my watch does all I require now

Polar H10 Monitor and Strap , it all works but the chest strap is a bit worn .
2*Duracell CR 2025 Replacement batteries.5
One full and one about half full tubes ( 250ml ) of conductive gel .
If this is of interest I will work out a price and put it in the classifieds

It works with Polar Beats on your phone

Chris
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Yes please Chris, many thanks ;)
 
So if I had a Polar H10 chest strap, I can mate that with a cheapish smart watch and handlebar mount that?
 
Norkie said:
So if I had a Polar H10 chest strap, I can mate that with a cheapish smart watch and handlebar mount that?
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As long as that H10 does Bluetooth and not just ANT. Don't know how much he's asking for it but you can get a brand new Wahoo TICKR for £40. They all are much of muchness so you get the cheapest well made one, and the Wahoo always wins. (the thought of a second hand HR strap puts me right off)
 
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Norkie said:
So if I had a Polar H10 chest strap, I can mate that with a cheapish smart watch and handlebar mount that?
Click to expand...

I am not sure ,the H10 is Bluetooth but as far as I know it is intended to work with polar software so I don't know what data it will transfer to anything else.
It certainly transfers to the Polar Beats software on my android phone.
It would be worth finding out before you buy one .
I am following this thread so I won't put mine up until you have found out.
 
Thanks Chris, also I don’t want to mount my iPhone onto the handlebars of my bike, I want to pair it with a handlebar mounted watch.
 
Norkie said:
Thanks Chris, also I don’t want to mount my iPhone onto the handlebars of my bike, I want to pair it with a handlebar mounted watch.
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When I was into cycling I used a Polar HR monitor ( predecessor to the H10) and a Polar Cycle computer.
If I was in the market for one I would be looking at either one of the watches which use optical HR readings ( Polar Ignite) or if I wanted the chest strap type something along the the lines of the Polar M460 cycle computer.

Foot note-I don't work for Polar its just that they are the only ones with which I am familiar
 
robj20 said:
As long as that H10 does Bluetooth and not just ANT. Don't know how much he's asking for it but you can get a brand new Wahoo TICKR for £40. They all are much of muchness so you get the cheapest well made one, and the Wahoo always wins. (the thought of a second hand HR strap puts me right off)
Click to expand...
The TICKR always gets great reviews and for most normal purposes would be the best choice.

The H10 is one of the *very* few chest straps that are able to track heart rate variability accurately. Most people will never want that but if you do then the H10 would be a great choice. I helped with some research for a sports science team and my Garmin strap (the good one that works underwater) wasn't good enough for the measurements they needed so we used a Polar.
 
i would look at a bluetooth compatable cycle computer as they are likely cheaper than a watch.
sigma sport make a computer for about £70 but sure you could find others
 
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